Slim Randles' Home Country

Spring: a time to let loose

[March 16, 2013]  Do you feel that itch coming on? It's time, you know. See the kids out flying kites? That's a sign. See little green bladelets in the lawn. That's a sign, too.

It's almost full spring, and that itch tells us it's time to do something. This is when we need to forget almost all our sensible resolutions about self-improvement and just concentrate on fun. List your favorite things and then take it one ridiculous step further and there you have it -- a renewal of hope and fun and insanity to celebrate the return of the sun.

You enjoy fly fishing? OK, build your own pirogue to fish from. Racing cars is your hobby? Go race them across a mountain range. Are you a seamstress or a seamster? Sew a flag the size of a circus tent and hang it from a giant sequoia.

Spring is the trampoline of the entire year. Our thoughts and plans are now unfettered by trying to stay warm, and we can emerge from our caves, scratch ourselves and grunt something like, "Public teevee good! Tell me go library. Study individual applications of medieval chemical experiments."

Buy some oil paints and some brushes and try to make a blank piece of canvas look pretty. Buy some house paint and try to make the house look pretty. Buy some makeup and try to make the dog look pretty. This last is just for 4-year-olds, and if you tell your mom I suggested it, I'll swear I don't know you.

The transition from winter to spring can almost be summed up by calling it a change from "Why bother?" to "Why not?!"

Spring is the reward we get for having cut all that firewood.

[Text from file received from Slim Randles]

Brought to you by "Home Country" (the book). See it at http://nmsantos.com/Books/Home/Home.html.